Grand jury no-bills family court judge

Pratt, attorney blame records problems on clerks

By Kiah Collier

December 20, 2013

Photo: Eric Kayne

Attorney Terry Yates, off camera, right, makes a statement on behalf of Judge Denise Pratt, center, after a grand jury a no-bill in a case where she was accused of tampering with court documents, Dec. 20, 2013 in Houston. (Eric Kayne/For the Chronicle)

Attorney Terry Yates, off camera, right, makes a statement on...

A Harris County grand jury on Friday declined to indict state District Judge Denise Pratt, a freshman judge who had been under investigation for allegedly backdating court records to cover up tardy rulings and for other questionable conduct.

The allegations, which led to the resignation of Pratt's lead clerk, were detailed in an October complaint to the Harris County District Attorney's office and the State Commission on Judicial Conduct by Webster family lawyer Greg Enos.

In a statement Friday, District Attorney Devon Anderson said, "It goes without saying that the integrity of court documents is essential to the justice system. Although the grand jury decided not to indict anyone, these proceedings have placed the courts and their clerks on notice of what the public expects."

Several family court lawyers who have sought to recuse Pratt from their cases in recent weeks have presented documents from her 311th family district court that appear to be backdated. A pair of visiting judges approved nine of those requests earlier this week.

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Pratt and her attorney, Terry Yates, have denied wrongdoing and blamed any problems with court records on her clerks, who are employed by the Harris County District Clerk's office.

"It's been very problematic in her court," Yates said Friday, standing beside Pratt in front of the Harris County Criminal Justice Center. "Judge Pratt's working with the district clerk to try to get some of those issues resolved, and she looks forward to going back and continuing to do her work as a family court judge and serving the citizens of this fine county."

'Rumors'

Pratt, speaking to reporters Friday for the first time since the allegations against her went public, thanked "everybody that supported me through all this."

"I've had a lot of support and a lot of people that believed in me and stood behind me and lifted me up in their prayers knowing I did nothing wrong," Pratt said. "We're very pleased with the outcome. I work very hard in the family court system for the families and children of Harris County."

Pratt has garnered four challengers in the March Republican primary. In an e-mail sent earlier this month to GOP precinct chairs, she described the allegations against her as "rumors that are being spread by the Democrats and the liberal media."

Harris County Republican Party leaders had been waiting on the grand jury ruling before deciding whether to ask Pratt to withdraw from the race. A no-bill means they will not, said former Harris County tax assessor-collector Paul Bettencourt, a member of the party's advisory board.

District Clerk Chris Daniel, who launched his own investigation after receiving a copy of Enos' complaint, released a statement saying that "our office's own investigation of these alleged backdating incidents found only one instance of backdating by a court clerk."

His spokesman, Bill Murphy, said the office found another document that appears to be backdated, but no one initialed it, so it is "unclear who processed" it.

Enos said in an e-mail that the backdating of court orders "was always just the tip of the iceberg of problems with her, but that was what happened to arguably be a crime."

Backlogged

The 53-year-old family lawyer filed a similar complaint last year against a Galveston County judge that preceded an investigation by the state attorney general and multiple indictments that led to the judge's suspension and eventual resignation.

Enos' complaint detailed other problems with Pratt. Lawyer Fred Krasny said Pratt regularly shows up to morning and after-lunch hearings an hour late, costing lawyers time and clients money. Others have said she sometimes has not shown up to hearings at all.

Asked Friday about the late rulings, Yates, speaking for Pratt, attributed them to a larger problem with backlogged family courts and suggested the judge takes longer because she is "very thorough, very diligent."

"It's really a legislative issue to get more family courts here so their dockets are manageable," Yates said.

Lawyers who have spoken out against Pratt since Enos filed his complaint expressed frustration on Friday with the grand jury's decision.

Matthew Waldrop, a lawyer who had eight cases removed from Pratt's court this week by a visiting judge, said he is considering filing another criminal complaint.

Lawyer Robert Clark, who still has more than a dozen cases in Pratt's court, said he is readying motions asking her to be removed from some or all of them. Clark argued a case in Pratt's court in January for which she issued a ruling in May. The official court record now says the ruling was issued on Jan. 30, the day before the two-day trial actually ended.

"I don't want my clients to suffer any adverse actions as a result of my being a vocal opponent of the judge," Clark said.